Tea Time
by ElvenMuggle
Summary: OneShot. Really, Caroline should have known that sitting down for a 'spot of tea' with Klaus was a bad idea. But he had been there for her when she needed him, and she was determined to do the same for him. Too bad she forgot how purely evil the man was.


**Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction using characters from the Vampire Diaries, which is trademarked by ****Alloy Entertainment. I claim no ownership over any of the characters or anything else that you may recognize and am making no money from writing this.**

**A/N: In advance I will apologize for the longevity and for all the crazy that is about to be inflicted on you. Good luck to you, good reader, as you embark on this insane adventure.**

**I've never written any klaroline before and I may write more, depending on how many like or dislike this. So please, if you've got the time, let me know how you feel. :)  
**

()()()

An hour ago when Klaus had called Caroline and left a heart stopping message on her phone, warning her that there was something 'quite serious that he wished to discuss with her', the teenage vampire had given it just a moment of thought.

Whatever it was, it had to have been serious. For the first time ever Klaus's soft voice held a note of panic to it, or at least that was what she had been able to pick up after listening to the message repeatedly. Something had happened to him, and for whatever reason, Klaus had decided to call her. They had called a truce weeks ago and she was working on being nice to him. But this was really pushing it.

First of all, it was eight o'clock at night and she and Elena had been planning on going out to spend time together to try to mend their relationship. Secondly, she was wearing her best pair of heels. Thirdly, if Tyler found out that she had gone to help Klaus with anything he might be upset with her. And lastly, and most definitely the most important of all, she had just, _just_ finished curling her hair. And it was perfect and bouncy and shiny and of course the sky outside warned of rain.

She didn't so much mind helping Klaus at this point, but she certainly wasn't about to risk messing up her hair for him.

Buuut...her thumb hit the button on her phone to replay the message, a grimace forming on her lips.

"Caroline," he started smoothly, "I need to see you, _right away_. It is very important that I see you, there is something quite serious that I wish to discuss with you. Please, I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't important. I'm at my house when you're ready."

Wondering when he had come back to town, Caroline had grudgingly made her way over to his house. See what he needed and then leave, she told herself. Don't let him get you riled up, she demanded mentally. Don't be attracted to him, no matter how good he might look or how pleasant he might behave tonight, she said over and over in her head. But did she listen to herself? No.

Now she sat in an extremely comfortable armchair next to the crackling fireplace with a cup of warm tea in her hands as Klaus sat in the chair opposite hers, sending a content smirk her way.

"Seriously?" she snapped incredulously, irritated with herself for being sucked into this. "Why am I drinking tea with you?"

The corner of his mouth twitched in amusement. Slowly he brought his tea cup to his lips. "This tea is imported from India. Don't waste it."

Rolling her eyes, Caroline quickly drained her cup then let it clink back onto the little saucer in her lap. Klaus smiled slowly. "What?" She asked suspiciously.

"Do you like it?" he asked, eyes twinkling. "I thought you mentioned once that you liked tea, so I got it just for you."

There was a satisfied little flutter in her belly at hearing these words. Like a dozen happy butterflies flying along in a sweet, lovely rhythm that matched the beating of a heart. Mentally, Caroline pulled out a can of bug spray and gleefully shot them all down.

Crossing her arms, she turned her head away from him. "I didn't say I like tea," she lied easily, "I said I like The Princess and the Pea."

He just smiled.

"And—wait!" Turning back when she remembered why she was here, Caroline fixed him with a stern stare. "Is that what was so important that you had to call me over here for?"

"No."

"Then what was it?" Her attention was diverted to the small table at her side. "And is that a doily?"

He opened his mouth to reply-no doubt to stall on actually telling her why she was there, when a figure appeared in the doorway. His attention was averted to the tall, ebony skinned woman standing there.

"I've done what you asked." The woman said simply, not even acknowledging Caroline's presence. The blonde stared in suspicion at the witch at the door. What exactly was her Hybrid friend up to now?

"Thank you Donna," Klaus replied pleasantly, lifting the tea cup to his lips for another sip. "That will be all."

"That will be all." Caroline mimicked under her breath.

The woman left them. Then they sat there. Caroline figured that Klaus would say what he was going to say before he was interrupted, or at least give her some reason of why she was sitting across from him. But no reasons were forthcoming. There were no words from his mouth; he seemed perfectly happy to sit there and drink his stupid tea. Gradually Caroline was becoming more and more annoyed with this game. He could have at least explained that doily. If he was really going to sit there all night then the thing for her to do would be to leave. But for some reason she didn't want to. In fact, this chair and his company were so comfortable right now, she could sit here forever and ever and ever and e-

"Oh God," she groaned, "what did you do to me?"

Klaus promptly threw his tea cup into the fire. "I spiked your drink."

"WHAAAAT?" She screeched, jumping to her feet. "Seriously? WHY?"

He shrugged in unconcern, relaxing into his armchair. "I felt that it was the best thing."

Sputtering in complete disbelief, Caroline struggled to find the right questions. "Is that what the witch was doing here?"

"Yes."

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"I'll repeat," he stated calmly, "I felt that it was the best thing."

One of her eyes was starting to twitch. "You thought it was the _best thing_?" She replied in an dangerously low tone. "You thought, you thought! WHY?"

Assessing her coolly, he motioned for her to sit down. "I would like to explain, if you would calm down."

"CALM DOWN?" She exploded. "You want me to _calm down_?"

"Please Caroline," he pleaded in a smooth tone, "You act as if you're having a conniption."

That's because I am, she wanted to scream. Why are you like this, she wanted to ask. How had she ended up over here and pulled into his little games once again, she wondered. There were many things that Caroline wanted to say at that moment. There were many things she'd like to do (karate chopping Klaus's head off for instance). But before she could give into any of these desires, Caroline remembered what she had told herself earlier. _Don't let him get you riled up. _

Sure she had just ingested god knows what. If she knew nothing else, the young vampire knew for sure that whatever Klaus had drugged her with was going to end up being an embarrassing story later. Sure she was in a terrible situation. Finally, she was in a good place and friggin Klaus had to come up again to mess things up. Sure she was going to miss her date with Elena, thereby possibly damaging their waning friendship even further.

But none of this mattered right now. Because Caroline was with Klaus. And even if the rest of the world was falling to pieces, just as long as she was with him, Caroline knew that everything would be ok. Plus, he looked really hot tonight.

Suddenly it dawned on her.

"Dear _god_," she breathed in horror, "you gave me a love potion!"

There was a quick blink of the eyes from him, then a full blown smirk. "That didn't take long."

What didn't take long? That the potion worked or that she figured it out? It didn't matter. All the mattered was that she got her hands around his _throat_.

...So that she could kiss the breath out of him!

Caroline face-palmed.

Klaus's smirk turned into a grin. "Having dirty thoughts, are you?"

"No!" she growled.

"It's a side affect, of course," he watched her, his eyes laughing.

"Shut-up!"

"And please, Caroline, don't try to hold yourself back," he stretched his arms out wide. "Come at me full force, if you like."

The scary thing was, was that she wanted to. She really wanted to. First she wanted to hug him and tell him that _someone _in this world loved him, that _she_ loved him, and had for a very long time. How could she have not noticed it until now? Was she really so stubborn that she had just decided that there was no love in her heart for him? Of course she loved him.

It was so obvious now!

And Caroline was pretty sure that this wasn't the potion talking. Also, in the very back of her mind, she was pretty sure that the potion was slowly taking over all control of her mind, gradually driving her insane with lust.

But that didn't matter right now, because she was in LOVE!

She face-palmed again.

Every muscle in her body burned with the need to rush into his arms. Gritting her teeth, Caroline strained to hold herself in place. "Klaus," she spoke carefully, ignoring the burst of feeling in her chest when his gaze locked onto hers. "Listen to me, you evil psychopath. I'm about to jump you.." His eyes lit up. She glared in return. "But if you let me touch you, or do anything that I might regret, I swear to god, I will kill myself."

A touch of alarm crossed his features for a split second before he seemed to think she was lying. He gave a small roll of the eyes, as though indulging a bratty child. "Caroline-"

"I mean it." she said firmly. "I love Tyler." Of course she loved Tyler. It broke her heart to say that to him right now; he didn't know that she loved _him_ even more. "This was a dirty, low trick you pulled." Bones ached, muscles burned, and burning need in the pit of her stomach told Caroline that she was quickly becoming aroused just by his mere presence.

Still, she forced herself to stay away from him. Concentrating as hard as she could on this difficult task, she worked to bring forth every emotion she felt about this situation to her features. Disgust, over how he could do something so low. Betrayal, because she had trusted him enough to drink something he had given her. Hurt, because he knew how she felt and yet had tricked her into feeling something different anyway. Now it was all there for him to see.

One of these emotions, or maybe all of them, must have made some impact on him. There was a very subtle flicker of the eyes and his lips pressed together gently. From knowing him Caroline was able to recognize these small changes in expression as one of the only emotions that Klaus very rarely displayed. Guilt.

"I swear it Klaus." Their eyes met again. Her heart jumped. He was starting to appear apprehensive. "If you let me do anything gross or sexual to you, I will drive a friggin stake through my own heart."

That was as far as she could go. There wasn't any more holding back. Never had she wanted anyone so bad. Caroline jumped.

()()()

She really knew how to spoil an evening. All Klaus had wanted to do was have an enjoyable evening with his one heart's desire but no, she had to go and be all reasonable about it. She had to bring up that word again. Tyler. If there was ever a word that Klaus despised ever hearing echo in his own head, it was the name of that wretched non-Caroline deserving slip of a man. On the hybrid's most wanted list was first and foremost: Caroline. Second was tearing off Tyler Lockwood's head. But as much as he loathed the werewolf brat, Klaus loved Caroline more. And what Caroline wanted was more important than Klaus's desire to kill Tyler. On most days.

Then as if bringing him up wasn't enough, she had gone and looked at him with those puppy dog eyes. And he had known right then how much he had hurt her. Really though, what was she thinking, looking at him like that? Didn't she understand what she did to him? Didn't she know that he'd do anything to make her happy? Now, regrettably, to make her happy meant to fend off every sexual advance she made at him.

Inwardly, Klaus sighed. He hated his life.

Easily he sidestepped her as she dived for him. In the blink of an eye he was on the other side of the room. The room filled with the sound of breaking china as she crashed into a side table with his teapot. Klaus grimaced. Dammit, he had _liked_ that teapot!

Unconcerned for Klaus's favorite teapot, Caroline stood and turned, giving him a sweet smile. For a moment he was pleasantly stunned into place. He had never been the recipient of one of those smiles before.

"Klaus," she said, smiling. "I change my mind."

Klaus blinked a few times to get his mind back in working order. He couldn't allow just a simple smile like that to turn his brain into mush. For hells sake, he was over a thousand years old and one of the most powerful beings on earth, not some prepubescent boy with his first crush.

"Darling," he replied in a calming manner. "I think that's the potion talking."

"Who cares?" She moved for him again and this time he didn't bother running. It wasn't like he couldn't fight her off if he needed to. The wall behind him on either side of his head cracked with the force of the pressure she applied to it. Tiny pieces of plaster dropped onto his shoulders. As she leaned in close, Klaus took great care to smooth out his facial features into a blank look. It wouldn't do for her to know just now how her presence affected him.

"Why does it matter if it's just the potion?" Her lips were dangerously close to his own.

He brought his hands up to rest firmly on her shoulders, effectively holding her back. "It matters because you asked me not to let you do anything reckless."

"I don't care about that now," she replied impatiently, pushing against his hands. "I told you I changed my mind. I want you."

There was a sharp intake of breath through his nose. Hearing it, Caroline smirked.

"Caroline," he said warningly. Call Donna to come back here and fix this, that is what Klaus needed to do. But first he had to get the blonde vampire off of him, and fast before he did anything that would make her kill herself later-

"Fuck me, Klaus."

-but to hell with that! He would deal with that problem when he came to it!

"Now." she demanded.

For the first time in hundreds of years, a shiver went down his spine. Caroline was ordering him to have sex with her. And he was damned ready to do it too, until the image of her puppy dog eyes moved to the forefront of his mind. She had threatened to kill herself. And somehow he knew that she was stubborn enough to do it, too. Not only that, but she had _looked _at him like _that_ and _asked_ something of him. It wasn't like he had the power to say no to her, not when she looked at him like _that_. He just had to say no to her now, when she wanted sex. Really though, he only had himself to blame. For some reason he had thought this would be fun.

It was the hardest thing he had ever done. But he had to if he didn't want her to 'drive a friggin stake' through her own heart. Klaus ducked under one of her outstretched arms and ran for the door.

()()()

Now she couldn't find him. This was a big ass house. Why, when it was just him living here, did Klaus have such a big house? Caroline was torn between wanting to hit him and wanting to kiss him.

The drugs that were currently coursing their way throughout her system were strange. None of her old feelings about Klaus were gone. She still wanted to hit him. But then when she thought of hitting him, she thought of running her hands all over his body. When she thought of tackling him and beating him mercilessly, she thought of tackling him and ravishing him mercilessly. When she thought that maybe she should run out of this house and jump in her car and ride home, she also thought that maybe she should find Klaus, jump on him, and ride _him_ until all thoughts of home were effectively wiped from her mind.

It was a very odd and conflicting jumble of thoughts and emotions that she was having a difficult time of working through. Then there was this 'love' thing. It seemed odd and out of place with everything else going on in her head at that moment. The most dominant was the lust. Every part of her burned with it. She was already hot for him and it was starting to become uncomfortable just keeping her clothes on. Then there was the ever-present annoyance. Last was the underlying and undeniable love she felt for him. It was almost as if the 'love' wasn't part of the potion at all. It felt so natural and uncomplicated. There was no other part of her mind that was trying to convince her that she wasn't in love.

Except that it _had_ to be thepotion making her think that, because she wasn't in love with Klaus.

Even though she was.

After a lot of thinking (which was about ten seconds), Caroline decided that the first priority was to find Klaus and screw him senseless, at least until the sun came up. Then when she was rid of her lust she could properly sort through this new jumble of feelings. That, in her addled mind at least, seemed like the most mature course of action that she could take.

The night time clouds bunched together to completely hide the moon from sight. The sky lit up with the flashes of lighting and the air was filled with the booming sounds of rolling thunder. Rain poured down, drenching the enormous Mikaelson house and lawn.

It seemed natural to Caroline to be outside at that moment. Thunder rolled and lighting flashed as she, laughing maniacally, opened a box attached to the side of the house and flipped the big switch inside so as to turn off all the power in the house.

()()()

Klaus sent an irritated glance at the lamp seated atop his desk. Had she cut off the power, or was it the storm? Whatever the cause, he probably wouldn't be able to read anymore because of it.

Except that he was a vampire and could see in the dark fairly well.

Satisfied, Klaus smiled at remembering his own awesomeness. So he picked up his book.

It fell in half.

"What the-" just as he was about to utter a thousand and one curses, a slip of paper fluttered out of the demolished book. Snatching it out of the air, Klaus unfolded it none-too-gently and read the words written for him. Instantly he recognized Rebekah's handwriting.

_**Niklaus, **_

_This is what you get for breaking my hair dryer, you evil prick! And don't think you can read it anyway, I took the liberty of exchanging every character's name on every page to that of one your favorite people: Katerina. So now when you read your favorite book, you can continually be reminded of your incapability as a revenge artist. _

_Love from your dearest little sister, **Rebekah. **_

The hard cover of the half of book he held bent with a sad little sound as he crushed it in his grip. Klaus ground his teeth in anger, seething at the thought of his sister happily destroying his two hundred-year-old book. The thought was enough to make him murder.

"That little-" he hissed. Before he could finish, his eye caught on the tiny scribbled words underneath the original text.

_**P.S. **Kol helped._

That was it.

He was going to kill Rebekah, then he was going to search the earth for a witch powerful enough to successfully bring Kol back from the dead, just so that he could have the satisfaction of killing him himself this time. And the doppelganger aided in Kol's murder the first time, thereby stripping Klaus of his revenge and making him go to all the work of having to raise him back from the dead, so he would kill her too.

The thoughts of bloody, gory murder calmed him from his rage and Klaus sat back in his chair again, touching all his fingertips together and smiling gently.

After he killed Elena, he would probably kill Damon, seeing as how the man would probably be out for his blood again so as to avenge Elena. Once he was dead, Stefan (wherever the hell he was) would undoubtedly want to kill him then, but as much as the hybrid would like the bragging rights of killing both Salvatore's, Stefan was the only half useful person in this town. But then at the end of the day he could always go and slaughter and a bunch of bimbo cheerleaders for no reason at all.

It would be an excellent end to a killing spree.

Now if only he could find his mobile and warn his precious little sister of her inevitable end.

Chuckling evilly, he sat up to reach for a desk drawer—when suddenly he was tackled, quite forcefully mind you, and slammed with more force than should be possible for the tiny blonde cheerleader onto the floor, splitting the hard oak.

Oddly, his first thought was—_my floor!_—before he realized that Caroline was straddling him and was thoroughly grinding into his pelvis.

Little stars of pleasure popped behind his eyelids. Without thinking he groaned and his hips moved upwards to meet hers, seeking the warmth of her core out of pure instinct. There was no time to think, no point to it, really. All they needed to do was listen to their bodies because nothing had ever felt like this before. It was more than just sex. It was the meeting of hearts, the connection of two souls forever linked in—

Puppy dog eyes. Caroline had given him the puppy dog eyes. His mind muddled with lust now, Klaus had to struggle to put more effort into deciphering his own thoughts. This wasn't a meeting of hearts or the linking of two souls. That was what he _wanted_ sex with Caroline to be. For once he wanted making love to someone to actually mean something to him. Sex wasn't even what he had been after tonight, but that was all Caroline could think about. And therein lied the problem. Somewhere along the way, his plan had gone entirely wrong. The drug he had slipped her was either the wrong thing or too much of the right thing. If all he had wanted was sex he could have had that back in the woods when she was still under the impression that he was Tyler.

The T word was enough to bring him crashing back to Earth.

Klaus groaned again. But this time, it was for an entirely different reason.

()()()

Five minutes ago when Caroline had shut the power to the house off, the stupid power switch had decided to electrocute the shit out of her. Two hundred or so volts of electricity speared throughout her entire body, creating nearly unbearable pain. But when all was said and done and her body was a crumpled heap on the ground, slowly healing itself, Caroline realized it.

Whether it was because of the shock to her system or because the electricity had affected the drug in some way, she couldn't say. All Caroline knew was that she no longer wanted to screw Klaus's brains out. Unless you thought of 'screw' in the context of 'screwing him _over _in a way that would make him sorry he had ever tried something so stupid with her', then yeah, you could say that Caroline wanted to screw Klaus's brains out.

Then she was faced with a choice. The easiest and most logical thing to do at that point would be to leave and never answer the phone for the scumbag if he ever called again. Or she could stay. There wasn't a lot of point to staying. It wasn't like it would really accomplish anything. But then her deceitful brain started thinking about the whole thing.

Klaus, being the jackass he was, slipped something into her drink. Then, in a moment of panic, she had threatened to kill herself. After the drug had completely taken control of her body, she had forced him against the wall and told him to fuck her. And he ran away from her. He didn't say, 'Howdy ho, let's go!' (not that she could _ever_ picture him actually saying that), instead he had run off, presumably to abide by her wishes and get away from her.

And why would he do that? Why would he go to all the work of being a creep, hiring a witch, and slipping something in her drink only to run away when his plan came to fruition?

The suspicion that he loved her, or at least felt something akin to love for her was one that she had felt for a long time now. He had feelings for her, of that she was positive. It was how deep those feelings might or might not go that she wasn't completely sure of. Now, her brain, fuzzy from the mixture of unfamiliar drugs and electricity thought, now was the time to find out the answer to that question.

The answer, she told herself, was important. Was he doing the all powerful hybrid thing, where he wanted everything he couldn't have, then made it his mission to get that one thing? Was she just a trophy that he happened to actually like? Or did he really, truly love her, like she loved him?

Maybe the drugs hadn't worn off completely. Because despite her hardest efforts, Caroline absolutely could not tell herself that she didn't love Klaus. Everything that had ever transpired between them showed it now in striking clarity. She loved him because he was strong and determined and always there for her. She was mean to him because she had felt like he needed a hard hand to get through his impossibly evil side. She pushed him away because if they ever did become an item, she wanted it to be special, wanted it to mean something. Meaning that she wanted him to love her, too.

No matter how hard she tried, Caroline couldn't say that she didn't love Klaus. But she could (and would) vehemently blame these new thoughts and feelings on the drugs he had given her. Until they had finally made it out of her system, she would just be 'in love' with Klaus. The lust had gone away...mostly.

The decision was made before she had consciously made it. Her body was already in the foyer of the mansion, closing the massive door behind her. Clothes and previously immaculate hair dripping wet, she closed her eyes and stopped to listen for any signs of life.

Everything was quiet and then—there! Upstairs, down the hall, the third door to the right. There was a loud clatter that sounded like a book falling and then Klaus's irritated voice. "What the-"

She tied her hair back and kicked off her soaked shoes. Klaus might be faster and stronger than her, but at least she knew how to be quiet. In a flash she was upstairs and peaking through the crack in the door. Klaus was sitting behind an enormous antique desk, laughing and reaching for one of the desk drawers. He was sitting there, lost in his own world, paying no mind to anything else around him.

Now was her chance. With a small grin playing at the corner of her mouth, Caroline pounced. She had never been the shy type, not even during sex. Many times she had been grateful for that, but right now most of all. After tackling him she wasted no time in moving her hips into his, mercilessly grinding herself into his instantly hard member.

He didn't say anything, didn't even look at her. His eyes slid shut and his hips moved upwards into hers in a practiced, skilled sort of way, so that he moved sensuously against the bundle of nerves between her legs.

Biting her lip to keep from gasping, Caroline wasn't sure if she should be upset that this had been so easy and that he wasn't going to abide by her wish, or be impressed that he was making her hotter than ever...with eyes closed and not even trying.

Honestly, she was about to say to hell with it and let him have his way with her. But then, quite suddenly, she was face-down on the floor and Klaus was behind her, pinning her to the ground. Her body screamed. Not in pain, but in protest that the pleasure it had been feeling was so abruptly ripped away. While her body screamed, her heart soared. Was he really turning her down because she had asked him to? This was nice. But on the other hand, she couldn't help feeling kind of insulted because _h_e was turning_ her _down.

"Caroline, love, don't make me use force." He said this teasingly into her ear, but if the roughness to his voice was of any indication, Caroline would have to guess that this was a struggle for him.

Good. That's exactly what she wanted. She smiled again. This time, it was the kind of smile that promised of trouble, a well thought-out plan, and the will to win this struggle. Too bad Klaus didn't see it.

"No, _love_," she threw back at him, "don't make _me_ use force." And with that, she moved her bottom up to meet his pelvis, moving into him with as much force as she could manage in their current position. A gasp escaped him, for a fraction of a second his grip on her loosened. Not wasting the opportunity, she was on her back and facing him before either of them could blink, running her tongue up the column of his throat.

A growl came from somewhere in chest, his hands gripped the wet curls cascading down her back. She took her time, running up his throat and then nibbling her way down the side of his neck, pressing her entire body to his, crushing her breasts into his chest.

His hands fisted in her hair and attempted to pull her away. "Carol-" his protest ended abruptly when her mouth closed around his ear. "Don't-" he tried again, but she continued to bite and suck on the lobe between her teeth until he gave up.

And part of her wanted him to give up. She wanted him, every part of him. Not just now. Caroline wanted Klaus all the time because what had not been evident before was all too clear now. She struggled to continue thinking that this was the potion talking, but for some reason that excuse wasn't working any more. It was something that she knew, deep down and with every fiber of her being to be true. Caroline loved Klaus. And now was the time to tell him.

She didn't even have the opportunity to pull away to tell him, though. Before another thought crossed her mind, something hard found it's way to the back of her head and everything went dark.

()()()

Klaus didn't _want _to hit her. He never wanted to hurt her. But if a situation had ever called for it, it was this one. He had been so close to losing control and letting her have her way with him. Scary close. The only thing that had stopped him was the thought of those damn puppy dog eyes. Again. So he had knocked her out. Then to be absolutely sure that he wouldn't give in to his more natural desires, he carried her back to the living room and chained her to a chair.

When he was forced to light candles, he once again wondered what had caused the power to shut off. It was when he was blowing out the last match that the witch finally decided to come back.

He opened the door and offered her an annoyed sneer. "Donna. It's so nice of you to come round when I've only called you five million times."

"You ask me one thing, and then ask another of me. Make up your mind, vampire." Rolling her eyes, she strode past him. "Where is she?" Not paying him any mind, she moved into the living room and eyed the chained, unconscious blonde. "I told you it was a stupid plan."

He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway, sending a smirk her way. "Actually it worked out quite splendid, thank you very much."

A doubtful eyebrow rose. "She admitted to it?"

"That she did."

The witch turned back to Caroline. "And why am I here?"

"I want you to undo what you did before."

Brown eyes flashed in his direction. "I already told you, I can't simply undo what I did. But-" she held up a hand to pause him mid-protest, "since you seem to be under the impression that this potion is still fully functional, let me correct you." She turned back to observe Caroline, a curious expression coloring her features. "I can't say what did it, or when it happened, but something canceled it out."

Klaus felt the space between his eyes furrow. "And by canceled out you mean..."

"I mean that the affects it causes aren't working anymore."

That stumped him. The potion had stopped working? When? Before she had attacked him in his office, probably.

...Right?

"When? Why?"

"I can't say." The witch shrugged. "She overcame it, she threw up, there was a shock to the system, the list goes on. When, I can't say."

Klaus's eye's zoned in on the unconscious Caroline. What was she playing at?

"You may leave." he spoke to the witch without looking her way, missing the eye roll she sent him.

"I'll send you my bill," she answered. It wasn't long before she was gone, slamming the door behind him.

This left Klaus to quietly sit and ponder what she had told him. At some point during the night, the potion that Caroline had drank had worn off. Canceled out was the term the witch had used. But what could have caused that? And more importantly, when had it happened? Was the hit he had delivered to the back of her head the 'shock to her system'?

No. He hadn't hit her that hard. The only other conclusion he could come to...there was a period of time where he hadn't seen her. And in that time, the power had gone out. A shock to the system. Cutting off the power would mean working with electricity. And there was also a thunderstorm going on. If she had been shocked or struck by lightening in that time, then that meant...that she had come on to him while she was in her right mind.

Score!

He had really accomplished a lot tonight. He had achieved everything that he had set out for. Albeit there being a few bumps along the way, everything had turned out splendid. So far, anyway. This would probably change as soon as Caroline woke up. Unless he played his cards right.

()()()

The first thing Caroline's eyes landed on when they opened was that jerk's smirking face. She sat up quickly, expecting to be tied down—it was only logical to think that he would tie her down after she had attacked him—but she wasn't tied up at all. Confusedly she blinked at the fluffy blanket that had gently fluttered off of her when she had sat up.

"Good evening, Caroline." He greeted warmly, smiling at her in that evil fashion that she recognized all too well. That was the smile he donned when he got his way.

She regarded him with suspicion. "Why are you smiling like that?"

The corner of his mouth lifted higher. Upon observing this, she expected him to tell her why he was smiling; the arrogant man did so love to brag. What she didn't expect were the next words out of his mouth. They were words that she knew must have felt like acid in his mouth, seeing as how he hated admitting to ever being wrong.

"I'm sorry."

Did he really expect to be off the hook so easily? Those words and this fluffy blanket and soft couch he had placed her on, all the little things he did to take care of her, attempted to warm her heart. And partially it did. But then she remembered what an ass he was and how pissed off he had made her tonight.

"Good." Crossing her arms, she glared at him. "You should be."

He hung his head, supposedly to make himself seem ashamed, but the affect was lost considering he hadn't dropped that smirk.

"You're right, of course." he agreed. "I was very wrong."

Caroline stared. "Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Saying stuff like that! It's creepy."

He continued to smirk. "But it's true. I am sorry. I know you won't want to believe me when I say this, but I'll say it anyway. This—all that's happened in the past few hours—it isn't what I called you here for tonight. It's not why I had the witch over. It's not why I spiked your drink."

"Then why did you make me drink that stuff?" She demanded.

Sighing, he finally dropped the smirk and looked at her sincerely. "I didn't call you here to get sex out of you, Caroline. The potion you drank...it wasn't supposed to make you go insane like that. It was only supposed to..." his eyes locked onto hers. For some reason that Caroline didn't understand, he was hesitating. "It was meant to make you realize your true feelings. The ones you keep locked inside, it brings them out. But for whatever reason it went wrong. Donna seemed to think it was because it was mixed with the tea because that particular kind also acts as an aphrodisiac-"

"You're an asshole!" Suddenly Caroline found herself on her feet, flinging a pillow at Klaus. He didn't move as it bounced harmlessly against his head and flopped to the ground.

"I know." he replied quietly. "And I'm very sorry"

"You're just-" her fists clenched at her sides, "you're so!" Then she realized exactly what he was saying.

It wasn't easy to forget the thoughts she had heard in her own head.

She had been telling herself that she loved him all night. But then on the floor of his study was when she had known it for sure. When it became apparent that he wasn't going to have sex with her and was going to do what she asked him. It showed, perhaps miniscule, but definitely there, that there was a good side to him after all. She did love him. Deep down she knew it...On the surface she wanted to hide it. There was a lot of different reasons for that, but most of all because she was still mad at him. He couldn't do something like this and then get his way.

At least he wasn't aware of how she felt. For all he knew, she only appeared to harbor an enormous amount of lust for him. But that was just fine with Caroline. She could play that off easily.

"Ok, fine!" She 'conceded', throwing her hands in the air. "I think you're hot. I might have had a few _really_ rare inappropriate thoughts about you. But that doesn't mean anything, that's normal! And you didn't have to drug me to get me to say that, you sick freak. If you had just asked me, on a scale of one to ten how hot I thought you were; I mean, I would have thought that it was a stupid question but I would have answered! You didn't have to go to all this-"

Suddenly Klaus was a few inches away. "I love you, Caroline."

Never.

Never had she...been so effectively shut up.

Not even thinking about it, Caroline knew what she felt. She loved him too. That fact seemed like such a deeply ingrained part of her heart that she didn't have to think. That feeling had been there for a long time, and it was only thanks to Klaus tonight that she was able to recognize it.

She knew what she felt. Caroline knew what she should say back.

But dammit, she was still mad! Forgiveness had never been her strong suit. Still, she might make an exception for him. Now if only he wasn't so infuriating. _Let me listen to everything you say and then buy special tea just for you, Caroline. Now I'll drug you and make you crazy, Caroline. Let me fulfill your heart's current desire, Caroline. Now let me anger you some more Caroline. I love you, Caroline. _

The blonde vampire's fist curled and she growled as the night's events once again crashed through her mind. It was obvious that he loved her. And also that he had an odd way of showing it. She loved him, too. And, coincidentally, also had a strange way of showing it.

By yelling. "Ugh! I love you too, you evil jackass!"

And by hitting. Wholeheartedly she punched the unsuspecting hybrid in the gut, sending him flying back ten feet and through a large window.

()()()

Now out on the lawn, Klaus jumped to his feet, mainly so he could yell at Caroline for breaking his window. First she breaks his favorite teapot and now his favorite window. He loved her but she was really pushing it.

Angrily he strode back up to the hole in the wall and leapt back through. But the room was empty. Caroline was gone.

For some reason, it was only then that he remembered what she had said before she hit him. "_I love you too, you evil jackass!_"

For the first time in a thousand years, Klaus felt a strange lightness. He was happy.

Slowly, he smiled.


End file.
